Right Here
by BrokenShardss
Summary: Leyton One shot. Set right after 1x09 With Arms Outstretched. Peyton's hurt a lot more than she's letting on, so she takes some drastic measures. Lucas figures out how she really feels, and decides to do something about it.


He listened quietly as the sound of harsh sobs echoed off the rows of books. Through the noise of shallow, lung rattling breaths, he could make out the five words that broke his heart.

"I'm in love with him."

He peered around the corner and watched as she wiped furiously at her eyes.

"I think I'm in love with him, but he's with my best friend."

His throat tightened at her last words and he hurried out of the library without another thought.

--- Earlier ---

Peyton sat quietly at a table, scribbling furiously in her sketchbook. At the sound of all too familiar footsteps, she slammed the book shut and looked up to meet a pair of piercing blue eyes. She blinked rapidly at the sight and turned her focus back to the table in front of her.

"Hey, Peyt."

She groaned inwardly at the prospect of a conversation with him. Her mind was practically screaming to run away, but she had to be the bigger person in this. "Hi."

He nodded gravely at the lack of sincerity in her voice. "How are you?"

It was all she could do to keep from laughing hysterically. She swallowed that notion and answered, "Peachy."

After two failed attempts, he decided to just come right out with it. "Look, about last night... I'm really sorry about--"

Peyton snapped her head up, curls swinging violently as she interrupted him. "Don't bother. I wasn't thinking straight, its fine."

Her words stung more than he liked, and he knit his eyebrows together in confusion. "But you... you seemed pretty, you know, upset."

She involuntarily smiled at his careful use of the word 'upset'. But it was gone as soon as it came, and she recovered with a harsh glare. "It was a mistake. Don't worry, it won't happen again."

His mouth fell open as if to refute her statement, but he didn't get the chance.

"Shouldn't you be off with Brooke? I doubt she'd want you to stay away for too long."

The venom that laced her voice at the mention of her best friend's name didn't go unnoticed by Lucas. "She'll be okay."

Peyton nodded, punctuating it with a firm, "Mm-hmm." She gathered up her sketchbook and supplies and began shoving them into her bag.

At this obvious dismissal, Lucas grabbed onto her arm. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

Her eyes flew to the spot where his hand was lightly touching her skin. "Never better." She looked up and held his gaze, silently praying for him to leave.

As if he read her thoughts, he gently released her arm and turned away.

Peyton stood rooted to the same spot until his figure disappeared through the glass doors. Once he was gone she let out a heavy sigh. Her legs felt like they were filled to the brim with cement. She slowly dragged her body into a long aisle of books and sunk to the floor. With her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried firmly in her palms, she began to cry. To further her dismay, a petite brunette chose that exact moment to venture by that area.

"Peyton? Are you alright?" Haley's gentle voice carried through the narrow passage.

In one quick, fluid motion, Peyton brushed off all the tears and snapped up her head to greet Haley. She plastered on a gigantic fake grin and hurriedly made up an excuse. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just dropped my things." She held up her bag in display, and by the skewed state she had put it in earlier, it was a plausible lie.

Unfortunately, Haley knew Peyton a little better than that. "Seriously Peyton, what happened?" She lowered herself to rest against the bookshelf next to Peyton.

"Nothing, really, I..." She stopped as the image of dusty blonde hair and baby blue eyes invaded her thoughts. Tears started bubbling to the surface again, as much as she didn't want them to. "Haley, I don't know what to do." Her voice cracked as the warm liquid began pouring down her face.

"Oh, Peyton." Haley reached over and engulfed the heartbroken blonde in a tight hug. "It's gonna be okay."

Peyton buried her face deeper into Haley's shoulder and mumbled fiercely, "No, no it won't."

Haley pried the sobbing girl's arms off of her body and pulled back to look into Peyton's eyes. "What is it?"

"I'm in love with him." She wiped roughly at her eyes. "I think I'm in love with him, but he's with my best friend."

Haley understood, but had to ask just in case. "Lucas?"

Peyton nodded. "I messed up, and now he's screwing my **best** friend."

Haley felt a wave of hatred towards Lucas. She couldn't believe that her own best friend had done this. "I'm so sorry, Peyton. Is there anything I can do?"

Her mouth gently curved into a smile. "Help me up?"

Haley smiled as well and hopped to her feet. "Sure." She extended a hand and lifted Peyton up to a standing position. "Anything else?"

Peyton shook her head. "I think I just wanna be alone for a while."

"Okay." She started to leave, but took one last glance behind her. "Hey Peyton?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't give up just yet." Haley smiled sweetly and left Peyton to herself.

---

Haley slammed the door loudly as she entered Lucas's room. "Lucas Scott, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Lucas looked up solemnly at Haley from his spot on the bed, but didn't grant her with an answer.

"Do you have any idea how much you've hurt her?" She raised her hand menacingly, but stopped her actions at the sound of his voice.

"Yes." He focused on a loose string from his comforter and mindlessly tugged on it. "I overheard you two in the library."

Haley's anger subsided a bit at the obvious guilt he was feeling. "So, you know that she..." Haley couldn't make out the next words; it felt like too much of a betrayal to Peyton.

"That she loves me? Yeah." His bitter tone was obvious, and he groaned in frustration as he shoved his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what to do."

Haley laughed at the reiteration of Peyton's words. "Join the club."

He locked eyes with Haley. "I've gotta fix this."

"You're damn right you do."

---

The parking lot was flooded with the opening chords of AC/DC's "Back In Black" as Peyton sped up to the school. All thoughts of the loud music were soon dismissed though, once the driver came into view. Peyton's long legs slid out of the car, covered almost to the knees with black high-heeled boots. After which came a long section of visible thigh, before reaching a deep red leather skirt. Further up was a black tank top that dipped low enough to show off the long beaded tail of a choker nestled in between her cleavage. Her face was done up with red lipstick and dark black mascara. The sight was enough to make half the student body's jaws drop in shock.

Peyton slowly sauntered into the school, careful to keep a sexy smile on her face. Everything was going alright until she heard that overly kind voice accompanied with the infectious laughter of Tree Hill's favorite cheerleader. Her plan seemed to falter, and she panicked. She spotted Nathan alone at his locker and decided that he was the most suitable target.

Nathan glanced up from his locker to see a very different Peyton Sawyer in front of him. "Damn Sawyer, why didn't you dress like this when we were dating?"

Peyton smirked at him and grabbed his collar, proceeding to firmly crash his lips down onto her own. She could sense his shock, but willed him to go along with it for her sake.

Thankfully, at the sight of Brooke and Lucas heading down the hallway, Nathan seemed to put together the pieces and continued the kiss.

A loud uproar of comments and cheers from the students caught Brooke's attention and she laughed with delight. "Go P.Sawyer!" Her arm was laced tightly through Lucas's, but somehow she was oblivious to his reaction.

Lucas froze in terror. That could not possibly be Peyton. He watched as Nathan put on a show, the fabric of Peyton's tank top was slowly being shoved higher. Something inside of Lucas snapped, and he quickly yanked his arm out of Brooke's grasp.

Brooke looked at him like he had grown an extra head. "Lucas, what the hell?"

But Lucas was too busy to hear her complaints. He walked across the hall and effectively pulled Peyton out of Nathan's grasp. "You're coming with me."

Peyton angrily protested as he pulled her into an empty classroom. "Get off me!"

"Well, if you weren't about to mount Nathan in the hallway, I wouldn't have had to drag you off!" He let go of her arm and shut the door behind him. "You wanna tell me what that was all about?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, focusing on anything but Lucas.

"I know you wouldn't do that to Haley without a good reason, so you feel like sharing?"

Peyton shifted her eyes to the ceiling, tapping her foot idly.

"Then how bout I answer for you." He watched as she finally looked at him. "You did it to hurt me. To make me jealous."

Peyton noticeably gulped, but she managed to get out a retort. "Now why would I do that?"

He cautiously moved closer towards her. "Because you're in love with me."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and she tried her best to laugh. "That's pretty cocky of you. Why would you even think that I--"

Lucas reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand. "Because I'm in love with you too."

Peyton's mouth hung open and she tried to find the right words. When none came, she simply grinned brightly.

He lowered his head and caught her lips in his. He was surprised at how much he had missed her kisses. He sucked gently on her bottom lip until she granted him access, their tongues tangling together in an intricate dance.

She wanted so badly to shove him away, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead she tore her lips away from his and trailed kisses all along his jaw, nipping gently on his skin. Her red lipstick left marks down his neck as she continued her fevered kisses.

He reached down and hoisted her up to sit on a desk. A large pile of stacked chairs fell to the ground with a clatter as they continued their make-out session. He sucked gently on her earlobe and buried his face into her hair. She smelled like oranges and vanilla, and he couldn't help but smile at being this close to her again.

Peyton wrapped her legs behind Lucas's back and pulled him against her body. She tangled her fingers in his hair and shoved his lips back against her own. The kiss was filled with passion, and all the things she longed to tell him. The room seemed to spin, and everything was the way it was supposed to be, until a loud coughing noise could be heard.

Lucas rapidly pulled away from Peyton and looked to see a teacher standing menacingly in the doorway, surrounded by a group of freshmen.

Peyton blushed furiously and hopped off the desk. "We'll just be... going now." She grabbed Lucas by the hand and bolted from the classroom. Once outside the two collapsed in a fit of giggles against the wall.

"That was interesting."

Peyton raised an eyebrow at him. "Interesting? More like humiliating! We probably scarred those kids."

Lucas let out another burst of laughter. "This is so not how I pictured this day going."

Peyton smiled over at him. "Me neither."

He returned the smile and squeezed the hand that was still loosely holding his. "But I'm not complaining."

"Yeah, I bet." Peyton giggled as she rubbed away the lipstick trails from his face.

Lucas pouted. "Hey, that color looked good on me."

Peyton grinned evilly. "Well I can fix that." She leaned in and planted a slow, languid kiss on his lips.

"I'm sorry, Peyton."

"Don't be. I think I'll survive the embarrassment."

Lucas gave her a scolding look. "I'm serious. I'm sorry that I messed things up. But no matter what happened, I never stopped loving you. It's always gonna be you, Peyton."

She smiled and gave him another light kiss. "You're really cheesy, you know that?"

He wrapped an arm around her. "But you love me for it."

"Yeah. I do." She nestled her head deep into his chest, not caring that they were in the middle of a school hallway. Because all that mattered was that she was right where she wanted to be.


End file.
